The literal music video started with Dustin McLean's redubbed version of A-ha's "Take on Me" posted to YouTube in 2008, where the lyrics were rewritten and resung to reflect the actions taking place in the video. McLean's Weird Al Yankovic-inspired humor gave way to a number of similar spin-offs, whose jokes often hinge on the goofy and random imagery found in music videos. See below for a few choice clips - please add your links in the comments section.

It seems likely to me that these videos, aside from growing out of the "Take Me On" original, also share genesis in another YouTube trend. Videos subtitling non-English language songs with English lyrics approximating the sounds of the original language are everywhere on YouTube. One of the more well known videos is a rendition of the FInnish opening to Ducktales